PSA And Chinese Partner To Launch One-Ton Pickup In 2020

The utilitarian vehicle won't be restricted to China as it will be sold globally.

After getting back in the pickup truck business earlier this year with the new model simply called "Pick Up," the PSA Group has announced today it will soon commence work on a one-ton workhorse slated to arrive by 2020. While the Pick Up built with Dongfeng is based on an older platform that dates back to the late 1990s, the next pickup to come from PSA is going to ride on a new platform developed in collaboration with Chinese joint-venture partner ChangAn.

The yet unnamed model is going to be assembled in Dingzhou, China at ChangAn's existing factory tailored to light commercial vehicles. Unlike the aforementioned Pick Up sold exclusively in Africa, the new one-ton pickup will be available in global markets.

The two companies have promised the pickup will be engineered to meet "the most stringent worldwide regulations and customers expectation with a very strong design and uncompromised quality and durability." Other LCVs are expected to benefit from the new platform, following the pickup's launch in 2020.

This tie-up is part of PSA's "Push to Pass" master plan, which calls for tripling overseas sales of LCVs by 2021, following a projected 30-percent hike in 2018 compared to current volumes.

PSA's announcement comes only a few months after revealing plans for a closer collaboration with ChangAn Automobile to bolster the DS luxury marque in China by launching one new model each year starting with 2018. A year later, the DS premium brand will begin to add plug-in hybrid and fully electric vehicles to its portfolio tailored to the People's Republic.

It remains to be seen whether the one-ton pickup truck will be sold in Europe where more and more companies are joining the segment. Recent examples would have to be Mercedes with the X-Class and Renault with the Alaskan, both of which are based on the Nissan Navara. It could make it onto the old continent considering Europeans are buying more and more one-ton pickup trucks, with deliveries increasing by 19 percent to 80,600 units in the first half of 2017.